The 2010 Challenge, day 14: Brechin to Scurdie Ness

John said his vision was fine the next morning, and he was sure he'd be OK on his own. So after breakfast we each went our separate ways.

I walked out of town on the main road towards Montrose, then turned down to Balbirnie Mill and crossed the river by the footbridge there. Again, it is a shame my camera was dead, as this was another beautiful place.

Once on the South side of the river, I followed the back roads of the Kinnaird Estate past the estate office at Scotston and through Haughs of Kinnaird. At Barnhead I caught up with another Challenger, a lady whose name I cannot now remember, but who was heading for her second finish off five starts. I reflected upon the extent of the ill fortune which that entailed, and my own good fortune in that I was looking good for my fifth finish off the same number of starts.

We passed Old Montrose and at Maryton we turned left onto the A934. We stopped for a coffee and ice cream at the Montrose Basin wildlife centre (where they kindly admitted us without charge, as we were only after refreshments; but they nonetheless allowed us to wander round and see all the things that people usually have to pay to see) and then we set off again on the final leg of our Challenge.

We walked through Ferryden in short sleeves; but as we walked out along the cliff path to the lighthouse at Scurdie Ness, the sky clouded over and the wind began to blow. My companion put on her fleece ... and then her waterproofs. I didn't, as I wished to finish in short sleeves.

We were perhaps half a kilometre from the finish when the first spots of rain began to fall. But still I was resolute. I was GOING to finish in short sleeves.

There were several other Challengers at the Challenge cairn when we arrived there. All were in full waterproofs. I strode up to the cairn, had somebody photograph me using my mobile phone, then hurriedly dropped my pack and found my waterproofs. And not a moment too soon, either. No sooner had I put them on than the rain came down again with a vengeance; and we turned and trudged our way into Montrose through the rain.

When I work out how to get that photo off my phone and into my computer, I'll add it to this blog. But please don't blame me for the fact that there's a finger across the lens. I didn't take the picture ...